Super girl swings away

15-year-old golf phenom Michelle Wie draws a crowd to the John Deere Classic

July 06, 2005|By Reid Hanley, Tribune staff reporter.

SILVIS, Ill. — The John Deere Classic is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a special guest, and it's not justformer PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, who won the first two tournaments.

Beman will be on hand, but he won't attract the type of attention Michelle Wie has. Wie, the 15-year-old from Honolulu, is playing the TPC at Deere Run on a sponsor's exemption.

The media center is filled with writers from New York, Washington, London, Milwaukee and Chicago, in addition to regulars from the Quad Cities, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

"Michelle Wie is the story this week and that's fine," said defending champion Mark Hensby, whose Tuesday news conference drew a sparse group of writers just after Wie spoke to a standing-room-only crowd. "It's something every week; if Tiger is playing, it doesn't matter if you're the defending champion or not. That's just the way golf is."

Wie played a practice round Tuesday with Zach Johnson, Aaron Baddeley and Craig Bowden in front of a large crowd. She didn't play like a teenage girl, hitting long drives and crisp approaches. She and Bowden won the front nine in their match with Johnson and Baddeley but lost the back nine.

"Zach was kind enough to invite me to play in a great group today," she said. "It was so much fun to go out there and meet Zach and Aaron and Craig. I learned a lot from them and it makes me look forward to the week more."

It's not hard to figure out why the John Deere Classic gave one of its sponsor's exemptions to someone who could become the female version of Tiger Woods.

The event is played the week before the British Open, which limits the number of top players in the field. Tournament director Clair Peterson didn't hesitate to offer Wie a spot, despite comments from a few players that she was taking someone else's spot--the Quad Cities' amateur champion.

"There is a certain financial component to this--a business component--that no one seems to want to talk about," said Peterson, whose tournament was one of eight tour events to raise $2 million last year for charity. "Just like a PGA Tour player has to make the top 125, top 150, a financial threshold to stay on tour, we have the same situation. We have to make a certain amount of money to stay on tour. We have a $4 million purse, we have to set up the city around here, we have to pay for the shuttle buses and the port-a-potties. You have to keep the business open.

"She's one player out of a 156-person field, an unrestricted sponsor's exemption, being used just as it's defined. We've used it correctly."

Indeed, Wie has sold tickets. John Deere Classic sales are up about 10 percent and it's likely the tournament sold a couple of skyboxes at the last minute because of her. A lot of people want to see the 6-foot teenager who hits it as far as many players on the PGA Tour.

Johnson, who is from Cedar Rapids, saw Wie play when he was on the Nationwide Tour. Still, Tuesday was an eye-opener even for Johnson, a strong supporter of Wie getting a spot. Johnson likes her chances of making the cut.

"Oh, yeah, I think she can be in contention," he said. "I don't think there is any doubt. She's good. I mean, she's a phenom. I've said it a bunch. When you have a phenom like that, regardless, male or female, you have to showcase it in some fashion. This is a great situation for her, her family and for John Deere and the tournament."

Playing in a men's event is nothing new for Wie. She has played in the Sony Open in her native Honolulu the last two years. The John Deere Classic is her first PGA Tour event outside of Honolulu.

She has played on the Nationwide Tour and the Canadian PGA Tour in addition to playing several LPGA events. This year she has played well in three LPGA events and was tied for the lead going into the final round of the U.S. Women's Open before finishing tied for 23rd.

Some critics have said she needs to learn how to win against players her own age or on the LPGA Tour before she plays against the men. Wie thinks she learns more playing against the best players in the world.

"I think learning to win is important," she said. "It's not like you only learn how to win when you're playing in junior events. I can learn how to win out here too. It takes a long time, but I'm going to learn how to win."

Wie has been on the mainland since the end of May and won't return home until the end of August. Next week she will play in the United States Golf Association Men's Amateur Public Links, where the winner gets a spot in the Masters. The following week she will play in the Evian Masters' women's tournament in France.

Wie is traveling with her parents and is enjoying her first trip to the Midwest. She arrived on Friday, played 18 holes and then nine holes the next two days. While she misses her friends in Hawaii, she isn't homesick.

"I just love to travel," she said. "When you're at home, you're just home and you have to go to school. Of course I miss my friends and I miss home but, still, this is a lot of fun."

Although Wie is only a teenager, she is at home with the media and the fan frenzy that surrounds her. She admits she had trouble standing up and speaking in class but she handles questions from the media like a professional. If she doesn't act like a normal 15-year-old, it's because she's not.

"Of course I feel a lot older than my age," she said. "I don't think anyone knows how they should feel at their age. People who are young always try to act older and people who are old always try to act younger. So I think we never really act our age."